Did you notice how many Outer Senshi stories are accumulating? And how there's never enough? I thought I'd throw the first part of this story onto the pile. Typical beginning, I know. If I've accidentally used someone else's idea at some point, I'm completely sorry, email me and I'll see if I can fix it.
I think I should mention now that a character of mine, called 'Sailor Copper Fox' appears in Part 3. I'm sorry for introducing a new character, but I couldn't find anyone Psycho enough (no, not even Setsuna :P) to play her role. Remember, she is created to offend. Relax and remember this is just fiction, and that the author doesn't think the way Copper Fox does about the Outer Senshi... so no flames regarding what she says, please.
Overall, some violence and language. Not hentai, but some adult references.
All the characters except Sailor Copper Fox are not mine, etc. As far as I know, Sailor Copper Fox is not based on anyone who exists. My advice to you if you think you are like her is to see a psychiatrist.
You can email me at: doolanae@mlckew.edu.au
And now, run for cover.
Give me the Passion
Part 1 of ~12.
By Asynca
For a moment the entire Auditorium was deadly silent, the Audience driven to the edge of their seats with anticipation. The young violinist looked up to the guests for a moment, lifting the bow to the strings, and nodding to her accompanist. The youth turned back to his piano, playing a few short cords, pausing on the fifth for the other to join in.
The violinist closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, concentrating. She pressed the bow to her strings, pulling it lightly across. The deep, rich note soared through the auditorium, amplified by the spectacular accoustics. Soon, the long tone was abandoned for a string of dancing, semi-quavers, echoed playfully and repeated by the piano.
The audience sat back, smiles on all their faces, wrapped beautiful concerto.
^*^*^*^*^
"I screwed up the third movement." A youth flopped into a seat in the star's lounge, running a hand through her hair, frustrated. "I should have held figure 'K' much longer..."
"What?" The young woman who had been brushing the pinned bun out of her turquoise hair spun around, making a face at the youth. "Haruka, you accompanied me just as perfectly as you always do. The audience loved it."
Haruka grunted. "The audience loved *you*. They would has still loved the performance if you were playing a solo."
"That's not true. You know they come to hear us play together..." Haruka stood up slowly, encircling the other young woman in her arms. "Michiru..." She lifted some turquoise hair of Michiru's neck and kissed her skin gently. Michiru rolled her eyes, smiling. "'Ruka, hadn't you better go get our stuff from behind stage?"
Haruka grinned into Michiru's skin, aware that the apparent brush off would not be repeated later in the night. "Anything for my Michiru..." Haruka kissed her neck lightly once more, and then pulled away from her partner and bowed playfully as she disappeared out the door.
Haruka straightened her tie sharply as she strided down the long hall that led to the stage door, feeling near on top of the world. Michiru had promised Haruka a celebratory drink at the Midnight Caf鬠down the road from Michiru's apartment. Haruka had been hoping that she would be able to walk Michiru back to their appartment... and... Haruka grinned as she pushed the stage door open, and walked onto the stage, collecting several of the prettier bunches of flowers thrown at Michiru during the encores, and the violin case from the wings. She didn't need to worry about the violin or the music, by some in-ground habit Michiru always took her violin and the music back with her to her room.
She was about to go back to the room, when she noticed a small piece of paper resting between the gape and the stick of the grand piano. She put down the flowers and the case, and lifted the gape of the piano, taking the note. Curiously, she opened it. The note was address to Michiru, from some fan, probably. She read it aloud.
" Kaiou Michiru,
It's been such a long time. I'm just dying to see you again....
Vixen "
Haruka frowned, finding a dangerous sarcastic tone subtly inclosed. "Doesn't sound like much of a friend to me...." She turned the note over a few times, looking for anything else. The only other clue to as who 'Vixen' was a small seal of the letter, which was a snake coiled around a heart with an eye, and appeared to either be biting the heart or sucking from it. She made a face and shivered, tucking the note carefully into her suit pocket. Almost hoping for another clue, she combed through the piano and music stand for another note, but found none. Her frown deepened. This was
beginning to accord to some sort of bad romance/mystery story, the kind of fiction Setsuna continuously read. Well, if someone was trying to scare her, she was going about it in all the wrong ways.
Sighing, Haruka went back to the wings, picking up the bouquets and violin case. The long walk from the stage door to Michiru's dressing room seemed much longer than usual...Haruka tucked that thought into the back of her, feeling a little edgy. She bit her lip, concentrating on the tightness that had suddenly washed over her. It couldn't just be the note, Michiru probably had quite a few admirers. So then, what was cause her skin to crawl?
The sharp blonde approached Michiru's door and tapped lightly by the door knob. When no response came, Haruka turned the door knob, peeking into the room. Michiru didn't appear to be in there.
Haruka closed the door behind her, and walked around to the mirror. For a second, everything seemed silent. Something was wrong.
"H-Haruka...?" The desperate, whispery tone immediately made Haruka freeze over. "Michiru!!" Haruka rushed into the ensuite, feeling her hair stand on end. Haruka's breath caught in her throat.
Michiru lay on the floor of the bathroom, completely naked and soaked in her own blood. Her turquoise hair was so caked that it had become a murky brown colour, and the floor around her was painted with blood, trodden in and pushed around as if a struggle had just occurred. To add to Haruka's horror, three stab wounds in Michiru's chest and stomach were evident, obviously penetrating right through, blood spilt from the back of the wound.
Rushing to Michiru, Haruka yelled for help so loudly it made her throat raw. Michiru was obviously having extreme difficult breathing, and she was beginning to lose so much blood... Haruka pushed that thought to the back of her mind as she tore of her jacket and shirt and used her shirt to staunch the flow of blood. Haruka wiped the blood from around Michiru's mouth.
Who would do such a terrible thing to sweet Michiru?
Suddenly Haruka noticed something that added to her disturbance, fear and fury. As Haruka moved Michiru to stop the blood flow, she noticed a pattern in the blood on the ground. Haruka leaned closer to it, her entire body beginning to wash cold. In the Blood beside Michiru were little drawings, done in blood the same way a child would finger-paint. The two drawings were in a sinisterly child-like style. One was a simple figure with wavy hair and the other was what looked like a cake and some balloons.
The figure with the wavy hair was half rubbed away. Haruka swallowed, realising that figure was meant to be Michiru.
"H-Haruka...." Michiru voice was weak, weak enough to bring tears to Haruka's dry eyes as she returned her attentions to her lover's dire situation. "Don't leave me, Michiru," the blonde whispered to the sodden bloody mess as she finished making wads of shirt to soak the blood.
At that second, three women burst through the door, and Haruka directed them loudly and fiercely to the phone of the third level to call an ambulance, hiding her fear with threats as she tried to comfort trembling Michiru. "The ambulance will be here soon..." Haruka cradled Michiru in her arms, her own clothes slowly getting soaked with her partner's blood.
As Michiru coughed helplessly, Haruka decided that it would be quicker to get to the hospital if Michiru was on the ground floor. Securing the wads of shirt with strips of her jacket, Haruka covered the remainder of Michiru with the dress Michiru had been originally wearing.
"Where...?" Michiru asked vaguely, and Haruka lifted her off the ground.
"To the hospital." Haruka answered, concentrating on running down the hall smoothly and getting to the first open elevator. She hammered the button marked 'Ground Floor', hoping that there was no one wanting to use a lift between their floor and their destination.
Haruka tried to control her own breathing as she mentally urged the lift to drop faster. Michiru struggled a little in her arms, then relaxed a little too mch. Haruka looked down into a pair of content eyes, the absolute acceptance of the expression chilling her. "I love y-you, Haruka." Haruka shook her head, Michiru's expression remained. "Always will..."
Haruka blinked tears out of her eyes, and steadied herself as the lift opened, meeting face to face with the paramedics rushing to where the attack had been reported. The crew immediately took over, tearing Michiru from Haruka's arms, placing her on a stretcher, and hurrying her away. Haruka raced after them until she realised she was only wearing a sports bra and suit pants. After pausing for perhaps only a second, she disregarded her lack of clothing fact and ran after the crew.
Michiru was bundled into and ambulance, and Haruka tried to climb in after her, but was pulled aside by what looked like that driver. "I'm sorry, Miss. There needs to be enough room for as many paramedics as we can fit."
"But I'm---"
"You can meet us at Yobukyo Hospital."
Haruka fought away the urge to send the driver sailing into the gutter seven metres from the ambulance, realising that that reaction would only endanger Michiru. Instead, she spun around and headed toward the car pack, and her own car. Michiru was dying. The realisation echoed through her mind, blocking out all other sane thought as she zapped the car with the key, unlocking it. She hurriedly pulled the parka she kept in the back seat over her sports bra, and, forgetting about her seat belt, she jammed her foot on the accelerator, speeding past the ticket booth, out onto the streets.
Haruka's flashy car screamed into the fast lane. Its tailored engine finally warmed up, it began tearing through the lanes of other cars, causing them to swerve to avoid the oncoming yellow torpedo. Haruka leaned onto the wheel, her heart pounding as fast as the pistons inside the engine.
It took her a gruelling four minutes to reach the hospital, and with a little scorn, she realised the ambulance hadn't reached Yobukyo yet. She parked in an illegal zone and lept out of her car, rushing around to the inward. *I should give up racing and drive ambulances...* She grinned, but the grin fell away from her face as she realised the seriousness of the situation.
It was a further few minutes before ambulance pulled over, and rushed a stretcher towards the door Haruka was standing by.
Haruka followed the crowd of assistants into the hospital, before being stopped by an strict looking nurse, who asked some questions about Michiru's identity, and her financial situation. Haruka felt angry, realising that if Michiru had been poor, they wouldn't have assisted her.
The nurse let Haruka go, and she rushed to the emergency room, leaving Haruka on the wrong side of the closed glass doors. She pressed her face against the glass, straining to hear what they were saying.
"Clear!!" *THUMP* "Again..." "Clear!!" *THUMP* "Dr. Sare, five litres of type O-positive..." "...get the respirator!"
Haruka watched in agony, wishing she could be in there with her Michiru as they strung her up to several unidentifiable machines. Three bags of blood were put onto three drips, and presumably fixed to Michiru. Haruka watch the amount of blood in them very slowly drop, and the way her body spasmed after each attempt to regulate her fibrillating heart.
She blonde dug her nails into the door frame, feeling herself shaking from head to toe. If Michiru dies...Haruka cleared her mind of that thought. Setsuna would have told them if Michiru were going to die; but, then, lots of things had happened that didn't go according to her time line...
At last the voices stopped sounding so critical and the doctors began to discuss Michiru's condition in clear, audible voices. "Three stab wounds..." "...looks like a routine rape..." "...we'll operate as soon as she's got those three litres in her." "No, let her stabilize before we operate..."
Rape? Did the doctor say rape?! Haruka bit her lips so hard it bled. But it wasn't enough for the person just to rape Michiru. The person had to scratch her, stab her and play with Haruka's mind. Someone was going to feel all the force of Haruka hit them... The thought of someone violating her precious Michiru in such a horrible way made her shiver. Some disgusting male had probably forced his way into her room and into her, and tried to kill her so she wouldn't be able to reveal him to the authorities.
The crew began to wheel Michiru, and all the machines connected to her, out of the room, towards the door. Haruka backed away a little, shell shocked. This didn't feel like it was happening... She felt so vague. She had to move to let the team through, and as she did, she caught site of the face of her lover, cleaned up a little but obviously covered in scratches, blood and tears.
Haruka fought to contain her own tears, reaching down into her pocket and clutching the note. Although the note could easily have been a decoy, Haruka seemed to be unconsciously linking the heart-biting snake seal and the drawings beside Michiru . She recovered her thoughts and began to move after the team.
"Haruka...!"
The youth stopped and spun around, to face a panting, flustered and pale Setsuna, who practically collapsed in Haruka's arms. The shock of seeing Setsuna in such a weakened state heightened Haruka's already affirmed fear. The Guardian of time was always in control! The loss of stability in Haruka's mind made her begin to shake again.
Setsuna's breathing settled again and she managed to regain some of her demeanour, which included being able to stand by herself. The woman put her hands to her cheeks, then to her forehead to try and clear the flush that her panting had caused. "Haruka, I'm afraid there's been some trouble."
Haruka bit her lip and gestured at Michiru as the team turned the wheeler to fit it into an intensive care unit. "You're telling me." She commented bitterly.Setsuna began to lead Haruka toward Michiru's unit, down the hall, her pace steady but forced. Haruka, having taken martial arts, was always aware of the way other people moved according to their moods and physique. Setsuna appeared to be hurting in someway; she was favouring the left side of her body. Haruka chose to leave this unmentioned, realising that if Setsuna thought it was necessary for Haruka to know, she would tell her.
Setsuna glanced at Haruka apologetically. "I had no idea this would happen to Michiru. I would have noticed something like this were it about to happen."
Haruka nodded silently, letting the older woman continue. "In fact, that's the problem, Haruka. I-I..." She struggled for words. "I don't seem to be able to *feel* time the way I usually can. I sort things in chronological order, of course, but I had no strict sense of before and after. But, now... It's all melding together inside me. The past is just the past and the future is just the future the way normal people organise time in their minds." She sighed. "But...maybe I just drank a little too much at dinner..."
Haruka didn't really understand the point Setsuna was trying to convey, but what she could understand was that it obviously distressed the woman. There was a few seconds silence as they stopped outside Michiru's room, waiting for some of the doctors to leave. Haruka could hear her lover breathing erratically and without depth. Setsuna looked at the vinyl floors of the hospital, her eyes suddenly dead of all emotion. "I'm not sure what's doing this, Haruka. It's like...It's like I'm a compass and I'm used to pointing north, but someone is holding a magnet at my south....I
can't block it, or resist it or...anything. This confusion is making it very difficult for me to do anything related to my Senshi abilities. I can't ever remember the date!"
Haruka watched the woman carefully again. "Do you know anyone capable of this?"
"No..." Silence as Setsuna tried to sort out her thoughts. "Yes...but..."
"Which is it, yes or no?" Haruka resisted the urge to take Setsuna by the shoulders and shake her some, this was getting ridiculous. "You know who raped my Michiru, don't you?!"
Setsuna was a little stunned by Haruka's lack of control. "Well, I'm not sure... I-I..." Another Silence. "I know several people who might of..."
"People?"
"In a sense, yes. I can't remember whether any of them are from the future or the past. Everything I remember seems to be from the past, although I know some of it is from the future, I can't remember which parts."
"You're hiding this from me."
"No, Haruka." Setsuna replied firmly, regaining some control. "I know you are very angry about this, and that you are eager to find the person to blame. But getting angry and suspicious of me isn't going to help at all."
Haruka turned her line of sight from Setsuna to Michiru, considering the situation. Finally, one of the doctors ushered them into the room. Michiru was attached to a blood drip, a respirator and an artificial kidney machine, and instead of looked pale and deathly as she had several minutes ago, she had regained some pallor. Haruka walked forward and stroked Michiru's face, or the parts of it that shone through skin tape and respirators. Michiru didn't even stir, but the steady beeping that the pulse monitor emitted reassured them that Michiru was alive. Haruka hoped to God that Michiru would be alright. The number of times she'd nearly lost Michiru...
"I don't like this, Setsuna." She told the brunette. "Not just the brutal things that happened to Michiru. I found this." Haruka dipped into her pocket and retrieved the note she'd found earlier, handing it to Setsuna. As she had expected, and flash of fear and recognition lit Setsuna's face, before being suppressed. "Vixen...Vixen..." She repeated to herself. "It sounds like it should ring a bell."
The blank look on Setsuna's face as she searched her mind troubled Haruka. Setsuna was more confused that she was letting on. Haruka tried to imagine what it must be like to have all the memories in her mind mixed up and linked strangely together so it would make no sense to her. No luck.
This is too much of a coincidence, Haruka told herself. This isn't just a routine rape, and Setsuna didn't just drink too much wine. Haruka tried to leave her thoughts at that, but it was slowly creeping into her consciousness that someone was striking them so they would fall. Hard.